Americans Are Losing Faith in Religious Solutions

According to a NEWSWEEK poll, 60% of American adults say religion is very important in their lives and 78% say prayer is an important part of their daily lives. However, just 48% believe religion can answer all or part of today’s problems, the lowest percentage the magazine has recorded since it began polling Americans on that issue in 1957. In that year, 82% believed religion could answer the problems of the time. 68% think religion is losing influence on American life, up from 62% in 2007 and 46% in 2005. 81% say this is a “bad thing.”